


raison d'êtr[E]

by Marshmallows



Category: NieR: Automata (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Introspection, Mentions of Suicide, Post-Ending E (NieR: Automata)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-14 09:29:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16910382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marshmallows/pseuds/Marshmallows
Summary: A2 wakes up to a quiet, lonely world. It takes others to make her realise that it's not an ending, but a beginning.





	raison d'êtr[E]

**Author's Note:**

  * For [runicmagitek](https://archiveofourown.org/users/runicmagitek/gifts).



> Follows the decision of just walking away from Pascal, spoilers for _Emil's Determination_ too.

It was bright.

She hadn’t expected anything when she had finally let herself rest. Perhaps darkness, or perhaps nothing at all. Certainly not this. Her mind had been elsewhere, thinking of her fallen comrades, from moments long buried deep into her own archives.

But it was light that seeped through her eyelids, her eyes squinting as they adjusted. 

She seldom let herself sleep in such a hostile environment, but every time she had always mused on why the world was so bright. It would always take her a moment to adjust, her consciousness coming back to her, bit by bit.

She stared out into the world, her eyes registering the same old landscape, the remnants of a civilisation that had once existed.

Her hair fell into her face. Her hands looked the same. A dove cooed beside her.

Like a pebble into water, it clicked. 

She was still here.

Silence took over her thoughts. In a sudden flash of remembrance, she snapped her gaze skyward – only to find nothing floating there. Her head dropped back down, and she turned to face this dilapidated world once more.

So, it continued.

* * *

Without an answer, or anyone to answer her, A2 left her place upon the windowsill. She had never been one to stand still, used to being both the hunter and the hunted. Not knowing what to do or where to go, A2 continued to live without a destination. 

On a rooftop close by, she had spotted 2B and 9S together, and it seemed that Pod 042 had returned to its rightful owner. It and the other Pod hovered around the pair, still yet to wake up.

There wasn’t a place for her. Never was.

She was left to walk through the city ruins, noticing how quiet it was, how empty it was. No whirring of machines, no YoRHa models running around. The bunker was no more, and between the time she had lost consciousness and the time she had woke up, the tower must have disappeared too. Any machines she encountered lay still on their backs, their eyes towards the sky, utterly despondent. There was no point in killing them, not when they were already like this. There was nothing left except the dregs.

She walked, and walked, and stopped as she felt her heart tighten. She was stood before the entrance to Pascal’s village. 

Her feet had taken her here, but she hesitated, her mind running back to Pascal himself. She never did find out his fate, not when the tower had suddenly required her attention. She had walked out the doors without a word and left him standing, his voice haunting her as the doors closed behind her. From then, there was the climb and the encounter with 9S, a searing pain in her stomach when she hesitated to land the final blow, and then she had woken up like it had all been a dream, fully intact. There had never been time for Pascal.

She pushed herself forward, her determination the only thing left that kept her running. Though, the village was empty, as expected. She walked across the charred and worn planks, felt them creak underneath her heels. 

She remembered how it started. She was on a simple errand before everything vanished in an instant. It was still fresh in her memory, a moment just next to her own supposed death. Yet, she, all bitter and twisted, had survived somehow, and this village remained as nothing.

She remembered the slide, and the children who had bugged her, their voices merely an echo in her memories. They existed once, and she had bore witness to that fact. She had seen so many lives come and go. 

Even after searching the houses and going up and down every level, Pascal was nowhere to be found. She stood in the middle of the empty expanse, her fists clenching, and then, she darted away as fast as she could.

Standing around, fraught with worry, had never been her thing. She hadn’t even thought of what to say to him if she found him, yet her heels pounded against the ground as she made her way across the ruins. She had spent enough time with short hair to realise that having it long again made it rather troublesome. However, the wind blew it all behind her and her head felt somewhat clearer, invigorating her with every step she took. 

She skidded to a stop before it was too late.

Just one more step would be assured nothingness. A drop without an end beckoned her closer when she looked down into its depths, but there was no time for that kind of thinking. 

She wasn’t here for herself. 

She jumped down, cliff to cliff, heels clicking against rock, until she descended into the canyon below. 

The machines here hadn’t given up like the ones in the city ruins. They held a fire within that made them charge wildly at A2, but their attacks were clumsy, half hearted enough that A2 merely stepped aside and the machines fell to the faces, sinking down into the water. Faced with someone else’s anger, she heard 9S’s screams as if she was back, moments before her own supposed death. The machines here were as broken as he was, and A2 feared what she’d find if he was in a place like this.

She felt a presence behind her, a katana summoned to her side as she dodged to her left. She thrust the blade upwards to parry the fist the Goliath Biped had thrown at her, and she flung it flying backwards with a mere twist of her hip. 

“Please… kill me…” it said in a stutter of a voice, its legs stumbling as it straightened to its full colossal height.

A2 hesitated, but in that moment, she realised that she was no longer looking for a fight, and a laugh slipped through her lips. It was the first time she had heard her own voice since she had awoke.

“I guess you got to me,” A2 whispered into the air, as her hand squeezed the hilt of a katana that belonged to someone else.

She didn’t have much time to waste here. Even if it was dark, a quick glance around was enough. There were no signs of a machine with a model as unique as Pascal’s. Without leaving more bodies behind, A2 quickly left the wails of these broken machines. A black and red machine stood at the entrance of the canyon, and A2 glanced at it before she climbed back up.

The Goliath machine’s words echoed in her ears, yet she only saw Pascal and all his sadness that she had left standing in the factory. 

She still had a chance. 

She was the only thing moving at a speed while the rest of the forest was calm. Passing by streams and waterfalls that continued on only made it more clear to herself. 

Her functions seemed to be regular. However she had been put back together, all the right parts were in the right order. With the wind in her hair, she realised the haze that had clung to her chest for so long had finally been lifted, and she could finally breathe.

The only other place she knew to go was the resistance camp. It was a pocket of activity that she had always avoided, but since breaching that, she stood before the entrance with merely a moment of hesitation.

Anemone was the first to arise, “A2?!” she said, her voice not hiding her initial surprise, “You’re still alive.”

“Somehow,” A2 answered, and she noticed the croak in her voice. She paused, before adding, “Have you seen Pascal around?”

Anemone didn’t hide the sadness clouding her face, “He’s here…”

“Can I speak with him?” A2 said, her voice growing quiet.

“He was… inconsolable when we found him,” Anemone began, before she lifted her head, “But maybe you can try.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” A2 said, and then she remembered, “What about the twins?” 

Anemone only shook her head.

“I see,” A2 said, because that was all she could do.

She continued past Anemone towards the storage room. It was quieter here in the back, especially when she noticed a couple more faces missing. It seemed it was going to be a common theme that hounded her heels since she had awoke. Voices died out and silence would reign, until everyone was gone and only the Earth remained. Alas, for that intermediary when the dregs were yet to be thrown out, A2 wasn’t about to merely lay down and die, not when she was able to walk the Earth once more, not when there were those she still cared about.

His name rose in her throat as he saw his form, crouched over a broken machine core. He was cradling it his lap, immobile as a tree with its roots long sunk into the earth.

Pascal noticed her immediately, and when his head merely dropped back down, A2 stopped in her steps. She took a breath and without a plan, she began.

“I tried looking for you.”

Silence.

“I…” A2 stopped for a moment, a breath to collect her thoughts, “I don’t know what it’s like to be in your shoes, so I can’t even pretend to say I know how you feel… But I… I’m somehow still here. I’m glad you are too.”

He remained so still that she started to wonder if he had lost his vocal functions. She struggled with what to do next, unsure of herself, unsure how to deal with someone else’s thoughts.

“Right, that’s all I wanted to say,” A2 said quickly, just about to turn on her heel when she heard a movement.

“A2.”

She stopped in her tracks, her back to him, and listened.

“I always knew that you were dangerous,” Pascal said. His voice was different: the lilt, the cadence, without children to soothe, “And when you ignored my request, I cursed you and your cruelness. I didn’t want to live with these memories, and yet you left me there.”

He paused, but A2 didn’t speak.

“But I want to apologise,” Pascal continued, and with it, a shard of his innate gentleness seeped through, “You helped our village, and I realised that wasn’t quite true.”

A2 lifted her head, “I’m not really here for forgiveness,” A2 said, “I’ve killed countless numbers of your kind.”

“Then, why were we different?” Pascal interjected.

“This world is beautiful,” A2 said, and now she lifted her head higher, until her eyes squinted against the light, “It was something I realised as I accepted I was going to die. Funny that. When all we’ve known is war.”

Pascal didn’t answer immediately, but a tiny sound, of metal against metal, alerted her to his movement. The machine core was in his arms, hollowed by hands that had yet to grow.

“Why did I help you guys? The answer is: I don’t know. I don’t know a lot of things. I don’t even know why I’m here. I thought I was dead. And then I woke up,” A2 said, her voice quiet, and then she turned to face him, her voice turning to steel, “But damned if I just let another comrade fall.”

She stepped forward, determination clenching her hands into fists. 

“I considered erasing your memories. I really did. Given the choice, I don’t think I’d choose to keep my own. But then…” A2 said, each word with each step of her march forward, until she stopped and her voice and knees gave way to the Earth, “Who would remember everyone who had died? Why did Anemone keep an archive? If I stopped remembering them, who would have known them, when we were going to be discarded anyway?”

“A2…” Pascal mumbled.

“You guys weren’t fighting for anger or hate or just to destroy something out of spite,” A2 whispered to the ground before him, “I had forgotten all that when everyone was out to kill me and I didn’t know who to turn to. And then, 2B was in front of me with her memories and her dying wish.”

“A2,” Pascal said.

“YoRHa was a lie, through and through,” A2 continued, her own voice dying to a whisper, “But it was a purpose.”

Silence hung heavy in the air. A2 remained in her spot, her ears registering the sound of footsteps, but she didn’t make a movement until she saw his feet in front of her. She looked up and noticed his extended hand, but more than that, she saw her sadness reflected in his eyes. 

“A2,” Pascal said, in that soothing voice he used for the children of the village, “You’ve been in a lot of pain, haven’t you?”

A2 didn’t answer back. Her eyes went from his face to the machine core he had placed down, and she whispered, “We all have.”

She pulled herself up, and even though she didn’t need Pascal’s help getting up, she accepted his hand in appreciation.

“Why did you try to find me, A2?” Pascal asked once she had made it to her feet.

“I…” A2 paused, “I guess I was worried.”

“I’m sorry to have caused you concern,” Pascal said, his head dropping ever so slightly.

“You survived,” A2 said, recalling words that had once been said to her, “That’s all that matters.” 

Pascal hesitated at the sound of her words, before he asked, “What do you plan to do now?” 

“I don’t really have anywhere to go to, I don’t know why I’m here, I don’t know what to do,” A2 replied in all her honesty, “What about you? Are you staying here?”

Pascal didn’t answer immediately. He remained silent for a time, until he managed, “I can’t go back.”

A2 paused, “Do you want to?”

“I… I don’t know what to do either,” Pascal said quietly.

A2 watched him for a moment, and then she let out a deep breath, “You want to go back.”

In Pascal’s silence, A2 made her way over to the machine core he had placed down, picking it up into her hands and registering its shape. Once, this had been a child she had talked to, and now it was merely a weight. 

She had killed a baby in its cradle before. Holding what was essentially a heart of a child made her realise how she had never considered machines as part of something too. Nature and the world marched on without a care to whether they all lived or died. The emptiness of the forest and the city ruins proved that. 

“Hey,” A2 called out, “Know anything about rebuilding machines?”

“Rebuild…?” Pascal repeated quietly, “What do you mean?”

“You’re machines, right?” A2 said, as she examined the core in the light, “I’m an android, but even I just replace my parts with new ones, like that fuel filter you once made me. I think that’s somehow how I came back. Maybe it’s the same way.”

Pascal stared at her for an age, “A2,” he began, his voice shaking, “What are you even saying?”

“Rebuild the village,” A2 said, as if it was that simple, “I don’t know anything about this kinda stuff, but you-”

“I can’t!” Pascal cried, his hands clutching his head, his body trembling, as he let out a single whimper, “I can’t…”

A2 was silent for a moment, regarding Pascal quietly as she held the machine core in her hands. She walked towards him, her heels clicking against the floor, his head still in his hands, and stopped just before him. 

“I’m scared,” Pascal said, in a voice A2 could barely hear.

“Hey. Remember when you had to start the village,” A2 said softly.

Pascal didn’t answer, as if he had retreated back into the despondent shell he was in when A2 had first arrived.

“Hey, let’s sit down,” A2 said.

She steered him back to where he once sat, and considering her strength, found it easy to lower him down to sit. Pascal never resisted, limp as a broken puppet, but A2 wasn’t about to leave. She planted herself down in front of him, crossed her legs, pulled the machine core into her arms.

“You remember their voices, don’t you? All the time you shared together?” A2 continued. 

Pascal stared straight down at the floor.

“Just before I died, I thought I was going to see everyone again. Whenever I killed a machine, I always remembered their faces and justified it as revenge,” A2 said, “In their memory, I used my hands to destroy, but you, Pascal… If there’s anyone here, I know it’s you who can do this sort of thing.”

“I killed them, _I_ killed _them_ ,” Pascal whispered frantically, “I taught them fear.”

“It’s not your fault,” A2 said, reaching out and holding his wrists, “But you’ll remember what you did, you’ll remember what you shouldn’t do. That’s only because you still have your memories.”

“A2… I can’t…” Pascal said, and A2 realised that if he had tear ducts like she did, he’d probably be crying.

“I’m not… good with this comforting crap,” A2 said quickly, “But you… You’ve come so far, taught a whole village, and one slip up doesn’t erase everything you’ve done.”

“What if I rebuild the village like you’re suggesting? What if I do the wrong thing again?” Pascal said, his voice quiet.

“How can you say that like it’s already happened?” A2 said, “You can try. You can always try, because we’re still here, aren’t we?”

“A2…” Pascal said quietly.

“Oh good…” A2 breathed a sigh of relief, “I was starting to run out of things to say.”

“I’m sorry about this,” Pascal said weakly.

“No, I’m sorry. I should have handled that better,” A2 said.

“No. No, A2. You’re right. You’re right. I… I’m scared. I don’t know what to do…” Pascal said, and his gaze landed upon the machine core in A2’s arms, “But if I could do anything else to help…”

A smile cracked upon her lips. It felt foreign to her face, but she felt it lift her heart and knew she had once felt this before, back when she still had others to care for.

“Thanks, Pascal,” A2 said quietly.

Pascal looked at her, “For what, A2?”

“For reminding me of some things.”

She passed the machine core back to Pascal, and he accepted it into his own arms again.

“Let’s go talk to Anemone,” A2 said softly.

“Thank you, A2…” Pascal whispered, “Thank you…”

* * *

It would happen sooner or later. 

The city ruins weren’t particularly large, and their allies were the same. With the help of Anemone, A2 had began gathering parts for Pascal to help him rebuild what was left of the village. She didn’t have the knowledge to know what was what, she barely even cared about machines until a short while ago, but the empty village was beginning to fill with what she would have considered junk. 

She was the one who volunteered to comb the city ruins for what was left, though it wasn’t like there were many fights she got into. Most of the machines she encountered had long lost hope, and even the androids left in the resistance camp were unable to find it within themselves to fight immobile targets. There was nothing left to do without a fight, but no one complained about their lives suddenly being easier to keep. Anemone did inform her about an android that had sought to take revenge when she had found out the truth, but she had yet to encounter her.

Thus, she remained on guard, even though her former enemies were mostly despondent. Whilst making her way across the abandoned mall, hopping over vines and roots claiming the concrete as its own, A2 heard a mechanical sound and sharply turned to the source. 

Out came 2B alongside 9S, emerging from the elevator nestled between tree roots. A2 never did have the key for that. Turned out someone else did.

They didn’t have their blindfolds any more. A2 found herself staring up at her own face, watching her eyes as they widened.

“A2,” 2B cried, stepping forward towards her. 

Pod 042 stayed beside her, an incline of its head, “Greetings, A2.”

A2 nodded back, before her eyes flicked towards 9S lingering behind them. He looked so small, hidden away like that, but being able to see his eyes told her everything she needed to know. 

She turned on her heel, ready to leave.

“A2!”

She froze to the spot when she heard her voice crack. 

“I’m glad you’re still alive.”

A2 didn’t know how to respond, “Pascal’s trying to rebuild the village,” A2 eventually said, “He could use your help.”

She left without another word, without waiting for their reply.

However, that wasn’t the end of their encounters. They’d meet and part ways, until their words began chipping away at her, until greetings became status updates, became conversations. 9S remained distant and she couldn’t blame him, but 2B was relatively friendly for someone who she had also ran through with her sword. 

One time she caught them before their descent, 2B’s arms full of desert roses. 

“Flowers?” A2 asked.

“For the grave,” 2B answered simply, “The last ones have withered.”

“…Grave?” A2 repeated slowly.

“I… I’m not sure if I could describe it sufficiently,” 2B replied, “If you don’t mind, you’re free to follow us down and see for yourself.”

Considering her jobs were never urgent, she paused before saying, “Sure.”

The elevator ride down was silent, which was to be expected. A2 remained in the corner, as 2B and 9S talked amongst themselves, their Pods floating by one another. She’d noticed Pod 042 turning back to her sometimes, but she never did have chance to talk to it alone. They were their support units after all, and she was no longer its owner.

They arrived at their destination with barely any time to reflect. A2 followed behind the pair, not thinking about what to expect, when she was overcome by a sudden wave of emotion. She didn’t know what to call it: a yearning, an ache, a sense that she had been here before, even though this was the first time she had laid eyes on such a place. 

“Emil had guarded this place,” 2B explained as she walked on ahead, “Through our interactions, he had granted us passage.”

A2 tore her eyes away from the landscape to look at her. Even though the sun couldn’t reach underground, the lunar tears glowed with an ethereal beauty that almost swallowed her whole, bathing them all in a pale white light. The emotion inside of her seemed to paralyse her tongue, and she was left only able to watch 2B lay down her flowers in front of a stick lodged deep into the ground.

“I don’t fully understand,” 2B said, “But Nines taught me about this concept of paying tribute to those that had fallen, and these were the flowers she had liked.”

She stared at the roses between the lunar tears, a splash of colour between white and withered flowers. 

“In a way, that means they’re still living in your memories,” 2B said, turning round to look at her, her hands folded in her lap, “Memories are all we have left.”

Not knowing how to answer back, A2 lapsed into silence. Eventually, she spoke up again, another question on her mind, “Where did Emil go?” she asked this, even though she half expected the answer. 

“The Emil we know passed away,” 2B answered plainly, “Though he appeared to have been at peace.”

“Oh,” A2 could only say lamely.

“‘Even if it’s pointless, you still have to do it’,” 9S said. It was the first words he had said to her since her supposed death, “Kinda describes us, huh?”

A2 was quiet.

She had thought he seemed more subdued than their first encounter, she remembered a curious and excitable boy, but his voice only confirmed it. She had seen it in his eyes, and now it clung to his words. That combined with the knowledge of another death only made A2 fall silent.

“Hey, sorry, I need to go back up,” A2 said after a pause, her voice a tiny whisper.

“I’ll accompany you,” 2B said, getting to her feet.

The elevator ride was just as quiet going up. It wasn’t a long one, and A2 was thankful to be back breathing the forest air once more, stepping outside without waiting for the pair. 

“I gotta go,” was all A2 said, her back turned.

“A2.”

She stopped, a short distance away, waiting, listening.

“Thank you.”

A2 hesitated, her mind reaching into her memories, and then without a reply, A2 left, her heels clicking against the concrete.

* * *

Time marched on, even if the sun never set and they had no destination. Their sense that something was happening was in the number that was beginning to repopulate the village. The first refuges they took in came from the nearby forest, then the amusement park, until machines began drawing in of their own accord. Machines that were lost and alone were starting to reanimate now that they were formed in groups again. Though, the village wasn’t nearly the same size and Pascal still didn’t believe he was capable of teaching any more children, at least they were beginning to feel some sort of progress. It was certainly different from a war without end.

A2 never stayed still in one spot, though she now knew the meaning of loneliness, now that she had made willing contact with others. There came a time when she stopped meeting 2B and 9S by chance, and started meeting by plans. According to 2B, 9S had the knowledge to help Pascal analyse data from the old world. Rather than split up, it had made sense to combine their efforts to find more clues in regards to building machines. 

For one such excursion, A2 was waiting in the camp just before the desert, a plentiful place of machine parts to scavenge, when she spotted a white Pod gliding towards her. She pushed herself off the wall she had been leaning against, curious why Pod 042 was alone.

“Hey, Pod. Been a while since we’ve talked like this,” A2 said, a smile worming its way onto her face.

“I have a message regarding 2B,” Pod 042 answered in reply, “She gives her regards, and apologies that she’ll be late.” 

“She didn’t have to do that,” A2 said with a shake of her head, “Not like I’m in a rush anywhere.”

“I volunteered myself,” Pod 042 said. It paused for a moment, and then added, “How have you been feeling?”

A2 let slip only the slightest scrutiny of a Pod without a face, “I’m fine?”

“Core functionalities stable? Vital signs in check?” Pod 042 asked.

“Sure, they’re fine too,” A2 paused, “This is all leading up to something, isn’t it?”

Pod 042 didn’t answer immediately, “I’m afraid I’ve been experiencing some guilt in regards to your status,” Pod 042 said, sinking in the air, “Were we wrong to have rebuilt you? Were we wrong to have played God?”

A2 only smiled, “You’re not so bad, Pod,” A2 said, a familiar echo from another time, “Didn’t know a Pod thought about these kinds of things.”

“Are you happy?” Pod 042 said back. 

A2 hesitated, realising that the answer didn’t come to her immediately, “If you had first asked me that, I’m not sure I’d say ‘yes’, but now… Now, I don’t know. I still don’t know a lot of things.”

“I’m sorry, A2.”

“What are you saying ‘sorry’ for? What’s done is done, right?” A2 said, “I’m trying not to think too hard about things.”

Pod 042 remained quiet for a moment, floating in silence. After a moment of consideration, A2 gestured downwards with her hand, “Here,” A2 said, mimicking an action she had seen 2B do. She smacked her hand atop Pod 042’s head, and Pod 042 performed a corresponding twirl. 

“Thank you, A2.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Pod 042 remained with her until 2B arrived with 9S and his Pod, and they carried out their self imposed mission together like usual. A2 would remain a little ways ahead of them, keeping her distance from 9S, and 2B acted as the bridge between them. They delivered anything they recovered and parted ways like clockwork, until they next arranged to meet in a semblance of a routine in a world without rules.

A2 would return to sit quietly atop the rooftops, the best vantage point for her to scan over the empty expanse of the city ruins. Though her feet never ached as an android, being able to fully take in the scenery made her heart feel at ease. She remembered constant running, constant fighting, constant enemies, and now there was nothing. Most of the stragglers in the ruins had ventured into Pascal’s village, and there was nothing left save for the boars and the moose meandering about the empty roads. There truly wasn’t a sign of Emil anywhere, an emptiness in the air without his speakers blazing with the sound of his song. 

“May I sit here?”

A2 took a second to look behind her, even though she recognised the voice, “Sure.”

2B flattened the back of her dress as she sat down in the space beside her. They sat in silence for a good while, watching over the empty city ruins, until A2 finally spoke up.

“2B…” A2 began slowly, “I don’t know if this is something I shouldn’t ask, but how did it feel? To die and come back, I mean.”

2B didn’t answer for a while, her eyes staring straight ahead, “I’m afraid I can’t answer that sufficiently. The last thing I remembered was seeing Nines on the bridge, and the next thing I saw was also him.”

“I see,” A2 only replied.

They continued to sit next to each other in silence, though A2 certainly didn’t mind. Though, she did wonder where 9S was. He was always tagging along behind her like he was a Pod himself, and she half expected that he still didn’t fully trust her. She turned to peek at her, watching her quietly in all her YoRHa uniform sans blindfold. It had made sense to take it off without any battles ahead, and A2 couldn’t recall a recent time when she had drawn her blade against a machine. 

“We have the same face, and yet we turned out so differently,” A2 said into the air. 

“That is correct,” 2B paused for a moment, before turning to her too, “I suspect it’s a result of our programming. Our missions differed. Our purposes too.”

“Yet, once Command’s gone, we’re doing the same thing. Helping out some silly machines,” A2 said, “I used to kill them on sight, and now I’m helping rebuild them.”

“I killed my own kind,” 2B said, her gaze dropping, “We never knew anything else.”

“You ever wonder why we’re still here?” A2 said. 

“All the time,” 2B answered.

A2 let the moment linger, before she chanced an echo of a question she had been considering herself, “Are you happy?”

“Emotions are… irrational. However, without them, I wouldn’t have realised my attachment regarding Nines,” 2B said, “Or you, for that matter.”

A2 could only stare at her, before her face softened into a smile, “Thanks.”

2B turned to her, “Are you?”

“I don’t know,” A2 said, and then she let out a quiet huff, “I’ve been saying that a lot. But maybe I’ll have time to find out if I am, since we’re still here.”

To think there was a time when all she knew was hate. Her comrades had died, and she had sought someone to blame. She killed and killed, watched YoRHa’s rise and fall, and now she remained with the rest of the dregs. She looked at the empty expanse before her, the vines climbing as tall as humans had built their structures, remembered those that had fallen had once walked the same Earth. She had thought of herself as those that had been left behind, but perhaps she was starting to consider themselves survivors.

A2 offered to walk back with 2B, and when they entered Pascal’s village, there was a chatter in contrast to the peace of the city ruins. Though their numbers barely reached the former village population, there was a certain excitement that made itself shown when A2 heard a voice.

“2B!” 9S cried as soon as they walked into the village. He rushed up to her immediately, though A2 noticed the glance he threw her way.

“Did you finish analysing the blueprint?” 2B said, answering the question of where 9S had been for A2. 

“Pod was right, the machine cores are like plant cells,” 9S began to chatter, and 2B followed along with the first excitable babble he had made since their supposed deaths.

A2 lingered behind the pair as she took in the sight of the village. When they had first started coming, machines hung out in their own groups, but now A2 was beginning to notice they were starting to intermingle. She wasn’t sure of its meaning until they reached Pascal at the top of the village, his head perking up from the documents in his hands.

“A2!” Pascal said, a certain cheer in his voice, “You seem happy. Did something happen?”

A2 could only stare at him. She remembered something long lost inside her: hope, companionship, an A2 who had once laughed alongside comrades. Then, she remembered where she was, her gaze sweeping over the androids among machines, living alongside nature that marched on regardless.

A2 smiled, and said in reply, “The world’s not so bad.”


End file.
